Creative Communities of the World Forums

The peer to peer support community for media production professionals.

Activity Forums Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy FCP Digitizing Issue with DVCAM down-converted from Canon XH-A1

  • FCP Digitizing Issue with DVCAM down-converted from Canon XH-A1

    Posted by Emily Auer on July 6, 2008 at 1:51 am

    I am an event videographer who has recently moved over to reality TV producing. (I know, I know, ironic, isn’t it?) I hired a shooter for a Bat Mitzvah on June 7th and I am going to be doing the editing. He shot using Canon XH-A1 (using Panasonic AY-DVM63PQ tapes) and down-converted the footage for me onto SONY DVCAM 124 Tapes. I am using a DSR-11 to capture the footage.

    OTHER SPECS:
    Dual 1.8 Power Mac G5 with 10.4.11
    1.5 gigs of RAM
    250 gigs of hard drive space
    1 terabyte of MAXTOR external hard drive space
    FCP 5.0.4
    Device Control: FireWire NTSC
    Capture/Input: DV NTSC 48 kHz Anamorphic

    My problem is: the tapes won’t digitize! I am using capture now and I get this message consistently after about 17 seconds:

    Capture Now has reached the end of the tape. All existing footage between the point where you started the capture and the end of the tape was captured successfully.

    Clearly there is more footage on the tape, and I can fast-forward through it but it won’t play and digitize more than 17 seconds at a time. I have tried rewinding/fast-forwarding the tapes, changing the device control, and using iMovie to digitize but to no avail. There is only a problem with these tapes, as my DSR-11 has not had problems before.

    I am getting married in 3 weeks and I would like to have this edit done before I say “I do”.

    Thanks so much creative cow! Let me know if you need anymore details!

    Emily Auer

  • 5 Replies
  • Bouncing Account needs new email address

    July 6, 2008 at 10:16 am

    [Emily Auer] “There is only a problem with these tapes, as my DSR-11 has not had problems before. “

    Have you tried recapturing other tapes (not from this shooter) today?

    If other tapes are still capturing, obviously the problem lies with the tapes made by this shooter.

    What gear did he use to down-convert and dub your copies?

    That would be where I’d suspect the problem lies.

    (Especially if it was to another Canon camcorder.)

  • Emily Auer

    July 6, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    Have you tried recapturing other tapes (not from this shooter) today?

    YES THEY ARE FINE

    If other tapes are still capturing, obviously the problem lies with the tapes made by this shooter.

    What gear did he use to down-convert and dub your copies?

    HIS CANON XH-A1 AND A DSR-11

    That would be where I’d suspect the problem lies.

    (Especially if it was to another Canon camcorder.)

    HE IS STUMPED TOO!

  • [Emily Auer] “What gear did he use to down-convert and dub your copies?

    HIS CANON XH-A1 AND A DSR-11

    That would be where I’d suspect the problem lies.

    (Especially if it was to another Canon camcorder.)

    HE IS STUMPED TOO!

    Could be HIS Sony DSR-11 (dirty or misaligned heads??)

    My suggestion is try another DV deck or camcorder (not a Canon) for the DV recording unit.

    Is he in your area?

    Can he dub to YOUR Sony DSR-11?

  • William Busby

    July 6, 2008 at 10:30 pm

    Matt, I’m the guy in question 🙂 (Hi Emily! 🙂

    I think she misread your question regarding “capturing a tape NOT by this shooter”. The other tape she was able to capture from WAS shot by me and was B-Roll shot with a HV10. It was downconverted the same way as the others… from an XHA1 to the same DSR-11. At this point, I think the problem is with the 2 DVCAM tapes, not my DSR-11. They may have a slight slack issue that FCP is more sensitive & detects & her DSR-11 handles better (which is why she’s able to play those back without issue alone with her DSR-11) and FCP kicks back some erroneous error during capture, saying it’s “reached the end of the tape” & aborts when clearly it’s nowhere near the end. Situations like this I believe would be better remedied with a workaround… such as making FW dupes from those tapes to different DVCAM tapes since she’s told me they playback ok on their own… or did I misunderstand Emily when we talked about this?

  • Bouncing Account needs new email address

    July 6, 2008 at 10:59 pm

    Well, if you’ve got it handled, you don’t need me.

    Outta here!!

We use anonymous cookies to give you the best experience we can.
Our Privacy policy | GDPR Policy